Time for the fifth and final Short Trip by me to be shared in this blog-a-thon…
…Continuing the trend of the Jodie Whittaker/Thirteenth Doctor era, I enjoyed Series 11 of ‘Doctor Who’ so much on TV/BBC iPlayer in 2018, that I wanted to write my own Thirteenth Doctor story. And so I did. Here’s ‘Hank Prank’, featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz. I’m looking forward to writing a future Thirteenth Doctor story in the ‘Zorbius’ series soon. Stay tuned!
Enjoy!
Tim. 🙂
‘HANK PRANK’
By Tim Bradley
Featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz.
Set after ‘Resolution’.
It was a dimly lit alleyway where the TARDIS landed. The whooshing and grinding pounded furiously before a loud thump was made to confirm the TARDIS had fully materialised. Nobody reacted in surprise to the blue box that had appeared in the alleyway out of nowhere. People just went on their way in the streets of the city like it was an ordinary occurrence.
The TARDIS door opened and out stepped the Doctor with her three friends Graham, Ryan and Yaz. They looked around to see where they’d landed.
“Ah!” exclaimed the Doctor. “Right on target! The old girl’s getting reliable these days. Unless of course, I’ve become an expert on the ship’s new systems by now.”
Graham as ever was utterly confused. “Where’s this you’ve landed us on, Doc?” he asked. “An old street alley in London is it?”
“Better than that,” the Doctor replied happily. “We’re close to the city centre of Hyperjosque!”
“Hyper what?” Yaz asked, startled.
“Hyperjosque!” the Doctor repeated. “One of the busiest city centres on the Earth colony world of Unitopia!”
“In the future I take it.” Yaz wanted to clarify.
“In the future!” the Doctor beamed.
“So why are we here?” asked Ryan perplexed. “Better not be any alien disaster happening here today!”
“Ryan, what do you take me for?” the Doctor said abjectly before she continued. “Nope, nothing like that! We’re just here to enjoy the celebrations of this little human colony world within their Hyperjosque city centre!”
“Celebrations?” Graham enquired.
The four had moved out of the alleyway away from the TARDIS. They were now walking in a busy street. A lot of activity seemed to be going on. People were heading somewhere in the same direction as the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz were. Graham, Ryan and Yaz were amazed by the busyness of the street they were in. They could see banners hanging aloft. One banner said ‘25 YEARS AND BEYOND’ and another said ‘LIVE LONG UNITOPIA AND ITS BEAUTIFUL CITY OF HYPERJOSQUE!’ The Doctor was in awe of everything she saw, satisfied and delighted.
“This city is celebrating 25 years of its colony world existing within the Earth Empire,” the Doctor told her three friends. “Isn’t that exciting?” she cheered like a giddy teenager. “You humans have done well for yourselves. In the future, there’s plenty of commerce; interaction between humanity and various alien species…”
The three companions noticed that there were strange alien beings among the crowd of human pedestrians and tourists in the busy street they were in. They also saw plenty of merchandise and food stalls as they got closer to the Hyperjosque city centre.
“And of course,” the Doctor continued, “there’s the hope that humanity will prevail in the continuing years on Earth and beyond the galaxy, despite the changing times.”
“Very nice,” Graham commented.
The Doctor looked dismayed when she reacted to Graham. “Is that all you can say, Graham? All this amazing achievement for humanity in the future and all you can say is…it’s ‘very nice’!”
“Hey, we can’t all be very good critics,” Graham retorted wryly.
“Take no notice of him, Doctor,” Yaz laughed. “Ryan and I are impressed. Aren’t we, Ryan?”
Ryan snapped out of it once Yaz brought him back to reality. “What? Oh, yeah! Definitely! Pretty cool this! Awesome! Definitely!”
The Doctor rolled her eyes as the four continued their journey.
“Well,” the Doctor went on. “We’re going to have plenty of fun while we’re in Hyperjosque’s city centre on this special occasion. There’s going to be a float passing by where the mayor will make his special speech to announce humanity’s progress and future.”
“A float!” Graham was now interested. “That’ll be something to see! Grace and I saw a float once when we took a trip to New York! A few months after we got married in fact.”
“Do we get front row viewing of this float when it comes into the city, Doctor?” Yaz asked.
“I hope so,” the Doctor replied. “We’d better get some snacks though. There’s going to be a lot of people when we get to the city centre and we’ll need all the food and drink we can get.”
“Which food stall shall we choose from?” Ryan asked. “There’s loads to choose from?”
“Anything you want,” the Doctor stretched out her hands, offering the choice. “Burgers; toffee apples; frothy drinks all around! Don’t take the Hungiga Bockfin Curries and Kebabs though. Had them once. Drank two thousand pints of water to get rid of the hot spicy taste afterwards.”
“So this isn’t your first time to Hyper…whatever this place is then,” Graham enquired.
The Doctor looked at Graham shrewdly. “Seriously, Graham? A time and space traveller like me and you ask if this is my first time to Hyperjosque?”
Graham held his hands in mock surrender. “Sorry for being so ignorant and slow off the mark.”
“Come on,” Yaz said impatiently. “We’ll never get to see the float up close if we don’t get a move on. Let’s get our snacks and drinks while we still can.”
“Spot on thinking, Yaz,” the Doctor said happily. “We two have great minds thinking alike, you and I.”
The Doctor and Yaz went arm in arm as they made their way to one of the burger stalls. Graham and Ryan followed after the two women, rolling their eyes, before looking forward to getting one of the burgers and drinks they had on offer today.
Eventually in the heart of Hyperjosque’s city centre, the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz arrived with their juicy burger snacks; toffee apples and frothy drinks in hand. They managed to get as close to the barrier that prevented people crossing where they could see the float making its entrance into the city centre itself.
The Doctor was delighted to see the wonder and jollification on people’s faces.
“Look at them,” she said ecstatically, pointing out to her friends. “Look at everyone’s faces! They’re so happy to be here on this special occasion. An occasion where this colony has existed for twenty-five years, despite the ups and downs! Doesn’t that make you feel good to be alive?”
Graham, Ryan and Yaz however were getting into their snacks and drinks. So they hadn’t noticed the gaiety that was among the crowds of people.
“How did you manage to pay for these burgers?” Graham asked, munching away. “You had those little bar things which you gave to that little man behind the burger bar.”
“Really, Graham,” said the Doctor, a little put out. “Is that all you can think about? Stuffing your face with food and drink whilst this happy occasion’s going on?”
“It is good to be here,” said Yaz, trying to ease the tension. “But Graham has a point. Is what you did to buy this food and drink for us using credit bars legal?”
“Oh I’ve had those credit bars for centuries,” the Doctor reassured Yaz. “I just never found the time to use them until I considered coming back here to the planet Unitopia.”
“Wait,” Ryan interrupted. “You had those bars for centuries and you never used them?”
“Got them from a friend I once knew,” the Doctor smiled. “Back when I was in my fourth body. Or was it fifth? It might have been sixth.” The Doctor pondered for a bit. “Not important. The important thing is we’re here in the city of Hyperjosque on Unitopia. And what better way to use those credit bars than by attending the planet’s 25th anniversary.”
“When you say a friend Doc, does it transfer from his or her account or something?” Graham asked. “Like you do with a credit or a debit card?”
“Something like that, yeah,” the Doctor replied. “But they use credit discs, not cards on Hyperjosque. And it was a hatmolt for your information, Graham.”
“A what?” Graham asked perplexed.
“A hatmolt,” the Doctor repeated. “One of the five genders from the planet Kondol.”
“Really?” Yaz asked amazed. “There are five genders on the planet Kondol. How can you tell which is which?”
“Well, as well as hatmolts,” the Doctor began, “there are fromps; lutecks; piroros and…oh another gender I’ve forgotten about completely. It’s been a long time since I visited Kondol. And it takes a bit of time to tell which gender’s which, I can tell you.”
Graham shrugged and said, “You learn something new every day.”
“You finding those burgers; toffee apples and frothy drinks alright though?” the Doctor enquired. “Not too heavy or sweet, are they?”
“Not for me,” Ryan replied happily. “I never thought food like this would taste so good.”
“Me neither,” Yaz joined in.
“Yeah well,” Graham began wryly, “not as good as your old fish and chips back home.”
The others laughed before suddenly a hush occurred among the crowd. Something was happening in the city. Everybody could see something approaching.
It was definitely a float and everyone began to cheer at the sight of it. Graham, Ryan and Yaz began to join in with the cheering crowd, but the Doctor didn’t join in. She thought about joining in. But there was something she noticed about the float that bothered her terribly.
“Something’s wrong here,” the Doctor told her friends.
That made Graham, Ryan and Yaz stop cheering and clapping once they realised the Doctor was perturbed.
“Hey what’s the matter, Doc?” Graham asked. “Ten minutes ago you seemed excited about the float coming into town.”
“There’s something wrong with that float,” the Doctor reiterated. “Something disturbing.”
Yaz could see now that the Doctor was being serious. “What are you getting at, Doctor?”
“Haven’t you three noticed something wrong about that float?” the Doctor asked, slightly annoyed by their lack of comprehension.
“How can I?” Ryan asked reasonably. “This is the first time I’ve been in this city on this planet. This is the first time I’ve seen that float.”
“It’s not the mayor’s float!” the Doctor pointed out.
“’Ere, what?” Graham asked, even more perplexed.
“And that person on the float is not the mayor herself,” the Doctor continued. “I should know. I’ve studied this planet’s history countless times before coming here.”
“Perhaps you’ve got your facts wrong, Doc,” Graham suggested. “It’s happened before.”
“No,” the Doctor shook her head, determinedly. “Not this time! I know the mayor of Hyperjosque! And I can tell you that’s not the mayor ! Even in that awful jazz suit the man’s wearing, I know that’s not the mayor!”
“Wait!” Yaz interrupted. “You say a man?”
Graham, Ryan and Yaz could now see that the person on the platform of the float wasn’t in the most formal attire they’d expected the mayor to be in. And it certainly wasn’t a female mayor as the Doctor pointed out. Despite the long hippie hair he had, the person on the float was a young man in his mid-thirties. He wore a tuxedo; sunglasses and had a huge grin on his face. Even the crowd’s enthusiasm and cheering began to die down once they saw the man on the float. Once the crowd’s cheers died down, everyone including the Doctor and her friends heard the man do something that a typical mayor wouldn’t do normally. He laughed! It was a maniacal laugh.
On the float, the young tuxedo-dressed man with sunglasses laughed out loud manically before he grabbed a microphone and began to speak into it. He looked down at the crowd below in the Hyperjosque city centre and addressed them.
“Hello pretty faces – boys and girls; old men alike!” he greeted. “It’s your bad boy Hank Prank here!”
There were gasps of shock and horror from the crowd once he announced his name. Hank Prank couldn’t help laughing out loud again. This could be heard across the city centre with the microphone on.
“That’s right!” he gloated. “It’s the biggest and worst super criminal back in town again to torment you all! And guess what? I shot the mayor!”
There were more gasps of shock and horror from the crowd. Hank Prank couldn’t resist being amused by everyone’s reaction to his news.
“Yes, you may have wondered why she didn’t show up to this crummy event on her float like I did on mine!” he said. “Well, you have your answer!” Prank laughed again before doing his Bugs Bunny impression, “Ain’t I a stinker?”
There were now shouts and protests from the angry crowd below. Prank suspected they would start throwing things at him. He would not let them have that chance.
“Have no fear, everyone,” he said. “I have gathered all of you here for a special reason. I’ve prepared this for years I have! Now I can see my plans in motion!”
With that, Prank took out a remote control device and began switching it on. There were still angry shouts from the crowd. Empty aluminium cans got thrown at him. It didn’t distract him from his task though.
He turned to the crowd again and said, “I must thank you all for purchasing food, drink and merchandise with your credit discs and credit bars today. That will allow me to take each of your lives away! Have a good nighty night and pleasant dreams! Bye, bye!”
With that, he pressed a button on the remote.
Very soon, people in the streets started to collapse onto the ground. They dropped like flies in rows. Hank Prank laughed away manically whilst this happened.
Then he turned to the side of his float.
“Go and collect the bodies, boys! Put them in the trucks and have them taken away for storage!”
Prank laughed away whilst his gang of goons trooped out of the float. They spiralled down to the ground, using ropes attached to the float itself. Prank was looking forward to making good use of the credits and the life-forces he’d stolen from Hyperjosque’s people today.
The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz saw everything that had happened with Hank Prank coming in; making his spiel via the microphone and making everyone collapse to the ground at the touch of his hand. It was a shocking sight for them to see as Hyperjosque’s people dropped to the ground like flies one by one.
“Doctor, what’s happening?” Graham asked anxiously. “How come these people are collapsing to the ground?”
“This isn’t good,” the Doctor remarked.
“You’re telling us that?” Ryan asked wryly.
“We need to get out of sight. Go into hiding! Out of the city centre! Now! Come on!”
The Doctor quickly led her three friends out of the street they were in, as they headed for a nearby alleyway.
“But why isn’t this happening to us?” Yaz asked as they went along. “Why haven’t we collapsed to the ground all of a sudden?”
“We don’t have credit discs, Yaz,” the Doctor explained. “It seems the people of Hyperjosque use credit discs that contain DNA strands and blood samples whenever they use them to make purchases.”
“Seriously,” Ryan began, aghast. “That happens in the future? We have credit discs that have our DNA and blood samples on them?”
“It’s for verification and identification purposes,” the Doctor clarified. “Not the best means for purchase usage as clearly demonstrated today!”
“No but wait, hang on,” Graham interrupted. “We used credit bars today on the drinks and snacks we bought.”
“Got them off a friend, remember?” the Doctor reminded Graham. “I imagine hatmolt’s lying about somewhere – life-force stolen. If hatmolt attended this event, that is. Poor chap.”
Ryan looked behind him. “The crowd’s nearly all down! And that float’s getting closer!”
“Quickly!” the Doctor insisted. “In here before they spot us!”
The Doctor ushered her friends into the nearby alleyway. Graham, Ryan and Yaz got in first before the Doctor joined them. The four friends hoped they hadn’t been seen by Hank Prank and his goons.
Thankfully they hadn’t been seen as Hank Prank’s float flew past the alleyway in which they were hiding. They held their breath, making no sound as Hank Prank’s float went by. The goons on the ground also didn’t see the Doctor and her friends when they walked in the street, checking that every citizen of the Hyperjosque crowd was out cold before stealing their credit discs. Once that was done, the goons followed after their boss Hank Prank in his float.
After Hank Prank and his goons had gone, the four time travellers breathed a sigh of relief. Their sighs could easily have been heard by Hank Prank and his goons once they’d gone. Thankfully they weren’t.
“I haven’t had this much fun with gangsters and robbers since I visited Chicago in 1920,” the Doctor remarked cheerfully. “That was in my seventh body, I think. Or it might have been in my ninth…or tenth.”
The Doctor’s friends were still in shock over what had just happened with the crowds collapsing to the ground. They would have to broach the subject with the Doctor sooner or later.
“What ever happened to those people?” Ryan began, “how are we going to revive them? There is a way we can revive them, right?”
“Doctor,” Yaz felt grim about asking her question. “They’re not dead, are they? Those people on the ground.”
The Doctor was uncertain how to answer Yaz’s question at first. But then she said, “Let’s take a look shall we?”
With that, the Doctor and her friends came out of the alleyway and went over to check one of the fallen bodies on the ground. The Doctor took out her sonic screwdriver and began to scan the fallen body – it was a woman. After scanning for a bit, the Doctor checked the readings on the sonic screwdriver. She then scanned another body – a man this time. Same result as she checked the readings.
“So what have you got, Doc?” Graham asked. “Are these people dead?”
The Doctor didn’t say anything for a moment. But then eventually she said, “No. Thank goodness. But their heartbeats are in a frozen state. It’s like they‘re frozen in time.” The Doctor had a moment to think for herself. “Whatever device Hank Prank was using, it must be pretty advanced technology. Even for a human in Hyperjosque on the planet Unitopia.”
“How can we be sure he was a human?” Ryan pointed out. “He could easily be an alien for all we know.”
“Hank Prank,” Graham scoffed the name. “Who calls himself that? That’s worse than the Joker from ‘Batman’.”
The Doctor pocketed her sonic screwdriver and began to outline her plan to her friends.
“I think I may have an idea how to sort out Hank Prank’s attack on the people of Unitopia. The city of Hyperjosque could just be his first target.”
“You mean, he could attack other cities on the planet Unitopia,” Yaz said, aghast. “Steal people’s life-force as well as their credit usage via their credit discs.”
“Yes,” the Doctor said, then brightened up cheerfully. “Thankfully he and his lot don’t know about us four. We have no existence on this planet. No identity. Therefore it gives us free access to any area of the planet that Hank Prank intends to visit without us getting zapped or knocked out unconscious. Therefore we can find a way to save the people of Unitopia from Prank’s villainy.”
“Okay, so how are we going to go about it?” Graham asked brightly. “How exactly do we foil this Hank Prank’s attempts to burgle people’s life-force from them?”
“Ah,” the Doctor began. “Now for that, I need to go back to the TARDIS. The answer will be there once I set the systems to follow a certain energy trace my sonic picked up when scanning these fallen people.”
“What, you can follow the energy trace back to Hank Prank using your sonic?” Ryan asked.
“Hopefully,” the Doctor replied, “with a bit of luck. Come on, gang. Let’s get a shift on! Back to the TARDIS we go!”
With that, the Doctor led the way back to the TARDIS with Graham, Ryan and Yaz following.
Eventually, back in the TARDIS, the Doctor plugged her sonic screwdriver into one of the console units. She turned a number of knobs and pressed a few switches and buttons in order to locate Hank Prank’s whereabouts in Hyperjosque as well as on Unitopia. Graham, Ryan and Yaz waited patiently nearby.
“With one of the blood samples my sonic picked up from one of the bodies in Hyperjosque,” the Doctor told her friends, “I should be able to track down Hank Prank easily within the city. Or outside the city as the case maybe.”
“Can the TARDIS pick up Hank Prank’s life energy signature or something?” Graham asked.
“No,” the Doctor replied. “I tried that with the TARDIS systems. I hoped I might be able to identify Hank Prank’s energy signature with the blood samples my sonic picked up from the remote control device he was using. But he’s clever, you see. He’s managed to block off his energy signature for anyone to discover him or track him down.”
“Is Hank Prank like…I dunno, a life-force hacker or something?” Ryan suggested.
“Could well be,” the Doctor answered. “He’s a tough customer for us to deal with, that’s for sure. We’re going into this blindly with trying to find him by using the energy source of the remote control device he was using to shock people out by stealing their life-force away. Once he uses his remote control device again, we’ll…”
“We’ll be able to know where he’ll be in whatever part of the Hyper…thingamajig city he’s in or elsewhere on the Unitopia planet,” Yaz finished for her.
“Spot on thinking, Yaz,” the Doctor cheered. “It shouldn’t take long for him to make his next move. The TARDIS can detect the energy source of his remote control when he attacks another part of town.”
As if to demonstrate that point, the TARDIS alarms whirred off loudly. The Doctor turned away from her friends back to the console units to make sure.
“Saved by the bell, Doc?” Graham asked eagerly.
“Yes!” the Doctor cheered. “We’ve got him!”
“Where is he then?” Ryan asked. “Is he still in Hyperjosque? That Prank Attack?”
“Indeed he is Ryan,” the Doctor replied cheerfully. “The TARDIS seems to have located him and his group inside a corporate building on the east side of the city.”
“Whereabouts then?” Yaz wanted to know.
“About southwards, five hundred miles away from the city’s east side,” the Doctor informed her.
“Blimey, he doesn’t waste time,” Graham remarked.
“What are we waiting for then?” Ryan demanded impatiently. “Let’s go after him! Stop him making this terror happen!”
“Yeah, come on, Doctor!” Yaz insisted. “Let’s get after him!”
“Already onto it!” the Doctor said cheerfully. “Hank Prank, here we come after you!”
With that, the Doctor pulled a lever and the TARDIS took off immediately. Graham, Ryan and Yaz lost their balance before falling onto the TARDIS console as the ship set off chasing after Hank Prank in his current location.
The TARDIS materialised inside the office of a corporate building. After whooshing and grinding before making a loud thump as the TARDIS landed, the Doctor and her friends stepped out. They hoped to find Hank Prank and be in time to stop him. But as the Doctor and her friends saw, they found nothing and nobody here. The office was deserted. The TARDIS travellers were silent. You could almost hear a pin drop.
“Uh, are you sure we’ve come to the right place?” Graham enquired.
The Doctor was completely baffled by how the place was so deserted.
“This can’t be right,” the Doctor remarked. “Why isn’t there anyone here to greet us? Where are the staff working in this place?”
“Maybe they went to the city celebrations like everyone else did,” Ryan suggested.
“If that’s the case,” the Doctor began, “why did the TARDIS pick up energy traces? We should’ve been brought to where Hank Prank was going to make his next attack.”
“If people were here in this office, we should see them lying on the floor,” Yaz pointed out.
“Very good point there, Yaz,” the Doctor complimented. “Well done!”
“Doc,” Graham began, “what exactly was your plan in meeting up with Hank Prank face to face? How exactly were you going to beat him?”
“Oh you know,” the Doctor said casually. “I’d try to persuade him not to attack anyone else. Show him how angry I would be if he dared try to refuse me.”
“Would that really have worked?” Ryan asked dubiously.
“Err, probably not,” the Doctor answered. “But you know me, Ryan. I’m always good with coming up with a plan…eventually. And it’d be a plan that would work.”
“So you didn’t really have a plan on how to defeat Hank Prank,” Graham said. “And stop his hacking ways of stealing people’s life-force.”
“Err, well…no. I suppose not if you put it that way,” the Doctor confessed.
“Oh marvellous,” Graham sighed, slightly annoyed.
“But I will come up with a plan, Graham,” the Doctor reassured him. “Don’t you worry, I will.”
Yaz meanwhile approached a computer terminal. It seemed to be switched on. She turned back to the Doctor.
“Doctor,” Yaz called. “Come and take a look at this!”
The Doctor turned to Yaz and joined her to see what she’d found at the computer terminal. Graham and Ryan joined too.
“Hmm. Interesting,” stated the Doctor.
“What is it?” Graham asked. “What are we supposed to be seeing?”
It took a while for the Doctor to answer Graham. Until eventually, “There seems to be a diary record belonging to Hank Prank. It outlines his plan of attack upon the city of Hyperjosque.”
“That’s handy,” Yaz remarked.
“A little too handy,” the Doctor commented. “It almost seems convenient, doesn’t it? Like we were meant to find this record, weren’t we?”
“Well, the computer terminal was on,” Graham remarked. “So we must have been meant to find it.”
“That seems careless,” Yaz said. “Why would he do something like that? Assuming this corporate building was his base of operations.”
“It may well be,” the Doctor said. “Mind you, no booby traps have been set off since we’ve arrived.”
“Perhaps Hanky Pranky didn’t expect anyone to come here after he and his gang set off to swindle the place,” Graham suggested.
“You could be right there, Graham,” the Doctor said.
Ryan was focused on the computer screen whilst the Doctor, Graham and Yaz were talking. He then pointed something out to his friends.
“Look here,” he said. “The first item of his agenda was to attack Hyperjosque city centre. Right where we were earlier.”
The Doctor, Graham and Yaz looked at where Ryan was pointing.
“So it was,” the Doctor concurred. “The rest of his agenda seems pretty well-thought out, doesn’t it?”
“It says his next plan of attack is at Hyperjosque Bay. And then at somewhere close by. In a place called…Kyter…beemoth…Park.”
“Kyterbemoth Park, Ryan,” the Doctor corrected him. “Less emphasis on the ‘be’ before ‘moth’ there.”
“So what do we do?” Graham enquired. “Follow the geezer to either Hyperjosque Bay or that waterhouse in Kyter…what-you-ma-call-it.”
The Doctor considered for a moment. Then she turned to her friends.
“We’ll make for Kyterbemoth Park first of all,” the Doctor said. “It should be where he’s at next if he’s already attacked Hyperjosque Bay.”
“What about the people knocked out unconscious in the bay though?” Yaz asked.
“We’ll worry about them once we deal with Hank Prank in Kyterbemoth,” the Doctor said. “Remember he won’t have killed those people. Just stolen their life-force.” The Doctor had another moment to think. “We’ll also download this diary record from this computer terminal into the TARDIS databank systems.”
With that, the Doctor used her sonic screwdriver, aiming it at the computer terminal. After a period of buzzing with the sonic, she checked the readings on her gadget and said, “There! Done! Downloaded into the sonic to take back to the TARDIS.” She looked up at her friends. “If Hank Prank’s not at Kyerbemoth Park when we get there, we’ll try all the other places he’s listed.”
“Well, it must be only one place he’ll end up at when we catch him, Doc,” said Graham.
“You never know, Graham,” the Doctor replied. “You can never be too sure.” She then stepped forward and said, “Come on, you three! Back to the TARDIS we go!”
With that, the foursome headed back into the TARDIS, continuing to chase after Hank Prank.
It was some while after they had visited Kyterbemoth Park. The TARDIS travellers had visited most of the places Hank Prank had intended to attack in the city of Hyperjosque. They went to Juoransi Castle; Muraonka Bridge; Quasanut Beach and the Main Houses of Unitopia’s Parliament. But still, the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz couldn’t find or get a hold of Hank Prank as he didn’t seem to show up at the places they’d hoped he’d be at. This got the Doctor and her friends worried.
The TARDIS’ latest port of call was a warehouse in a place called Teewood. And still Hank Prank wasn’t there.
“This is getting very worrying,” the Doctor said to her friends. “I hate it when I get this worried as well as confused.”
“If Hank Prank isn’t turning up at these places he put in his diary, what are we doing coming to them anyway?” Graham asked.
“He must be going to them,” said Yaz. “The TARDIS homed in on the energy traces at the moment he showed up. Isn’t that what you said, Doctor?”
“Indeed, I did,” the Doctor replied. “The old girl should be doing that in order to catch him unawares. And yet every time we arrive at the moment Hank Prank’s supposed to arrive, he isn’t here. So why is that I wonder.”
“It’s like we’re running around on some wild goose chase,” Ryan surmised.
The Doctor didn’t take in what Ryan said at first then it slowly dawned on her. She turned back to him.
“What’s that you said, Ryan?” she asked.
“Well I…” Ryan began before the Doctor interrupted.
“Don’t tell me,” the Doctor waved him aside. “I know what you said.” A moment’s pause and then, “You know I think you may have hit on something, Ryan.”
“What do you mean?” Ryan asked.
After another moment’s thought, the Doctor headed back into the TARDIS, saying, “Come on! There’s something I want to check! Back inside!”
Without hesitation, Graham, Ryan and Yaz followed the Doctor back inside the TARDIS. They hoped she’d come up with something from her latest inspiration, whatever it was.
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor checked the instruments at a number of console units. She checked and re-checked again as her friends watched her patiently. Eventually, the Doctor had her moment of eureka and said, “I’ve got it! I know what’s been going on here?”
“Well, what is it, Doctor?” Graham asked. “Don’t keep us in suspense! Spill the beans!”
“Hank Prank has been outwitting us on every turn we’ve been trying to catch him,” the Doctor answered. “He hasn’t been to the places we’ve been going to. He wanted us to go to those places to put us off a false scent.”
“What?” Ryan said, surprised. “So he has been leading us on a wild goose chase!”
“How did you work that out, Doctor?” Yaz asked.
“Those energy traces we’ve been tracking,” the Doctor replied, frustrated. “They’re false signals of a localised beam placed by himself. I’ve been so stupid I should’ve been checking the news coverage happening around the world of Unitopia.”
“So he’s been attacking other places whilst we’ve been trying to follow him on the wrong scent?” enquired Graham.
“Take a look at this.” The Doctor showed her friends the monitor screen, which displayed a number of news feeds coming in, transmitted across the Unitopia world.
“He has been attacking other cities on Unitopia,” Yaz remarked. “It’s not just Hyperjosque he’s been focusing on. He’s been focusing on cities…with names I can’t even pronounce.”
“Kruanta; Poluxantro; Vunerepta,” the Doctor named a number of cities with the right pronunciations before turning back to her friends. “That diary record left by Hank Prank in that corporate building of his! It was meant to be left open for people to see should anyone chance to try and track him down. I knew it was all too convenient for us to see it when we found it.”
“The rotten blighter,” Graham remarked. “So we’ve no means of knowing where he’s going to strike next. And which city he’s going to make for.”
“Not quite,” the Doctor said. “We have an advantage. It’s a tiny little one, but it should be enough. Hopefully.”
“What’s it you’ve got in mind, Doctor?” Ryan asked.
“That diary record that Hank Prank left for us,” the Doctor began. “It was meant for ordinary policemen should they ever try to find his headquarters.” The Doctor then beamed her broadest grin. “Not for super-duper time travellers like us!”
“I think I’m getting where you’re going with this, Doc,” Graham smiled.
The Doctor smiled back before looking to Ryan and Yaz.
“Ryan; Yaz,” she began. “I need you to be brave about what I’m going to ask you to do.”
“You don’t have to tell us to be brave,” Ryan said.
“We’re ready whatever you ask us to do,” Yaz added.
“Good,” the Doctor said. “Because this might be a little dangerous.”
“When has that ever stopped us,” Yaz remarked.
“Just tell us what you need Yaz and me to do, right?” Ryan added.
“Right then,” the Doctor began. “I need to send you two a day or so before the first attack on Hyperjosque city centre started.”
There was a moment of confused silence now.
“What?” Yaz asked.
“You’ve lost me already,” Ryan remarked.
“Okay, start again,” the Doctor reiterated. “As the TARDIS is a time machine, I can take us back to before all this happened with Hank Prank’s attack on the entirety of Unitopia. But we mustn’t interfere with the course of events. We have to let things go as they occur in the relative timeline.” She paused for a moment. “So I need to send you Ryan and you Yaz a day or so before Hank Prank makes an attack on Hyperjosque itself.”
“Okay,” Yaz interrupted. “I get you want to send Ryan and me back a day or so ago. But where exactly are you sending us?”
The Doctor beamed her smile again. “Inside Hank Prank’s corporate building! You have to be unseen of course. Not let Prank or his goons catch sight of you once we land the TARDIS back in the corporate building a day or so ago.”
“Gotcha,” Ryan answered.
“You really mustn’t be seen at all, you two,” the Doctor stressed seriously. “The moment you’re spotted, the stealth plan’s gone.”
“We get you,” Yaz reassured her. “So once we’re hiding out of sight, what do you want us to do?”
The Doctor paused again for breath before speaking again. “Have you two got your mobile phones on your handy?”
At that, Ryan and Yaz checked their pockets for their mobiles. They showed them to the Doctor for her to see.
“Great,” the Doctor said happily. “Now, this is what we’ll do.”
A day after Hank Prank made his first attack on Hyperjosque, he entered the Unitopia council arena at the core of the planet with his goons accompanying him. Prank saw all the council members fallen over in their chairs and across the benches after sucking their life force dry with their credit disc details via his remote control. He laughed maniacally as he saw the display of people sprawled about across the council arena. His goons were busy nicking the credit discs from council members’ pockets whilst he was laughing.
“Oh I’m having a happy time so far,” Prank said, still laughing away. “Operation Prank seems to be going according to plan. I can’t believe my luck. And I’ve covered my tracks well.”
One of his goons came over to Prank and said, “The ship’s standing by to beam us aboard, boss. We can make our way off this rock anytime soon.”
“Excellent,” said Prank ecstatically. “All that remains is to acquire full council control code operations before shutting this planet down. Then we can be on our way. Off to steal other planets’ life-force and shutting them down. By the time we reach our paradise planet on Katana IV, we’re going to be stinking rich and have the beautiful women we want! Success and dreams!”
At that moment, the council arena doors opened and Prank and his lot turned to see who had entered. It was the Doctor and Graham. The Doctor had a cheery smile as she and Graham entered.
“Hiya,” she greeted. “Having fun are we? I can see you’re having fun the way you’ve been stealing this planet apart left, right and centre. Almost had me lose sight of you altogether, didn’t you? But I caught up with you in the end!”
Prank looked at the Doctor with astonishment and annoyance. He didn’t know what to make of these two people who had entered. He had no idea who they were.
“How come you two aren’t lying on the floor like everyone else?” Hank demanded to know. “Who are you people anyway?”
“Your little sneaky trick to put us on the wrong track didn’t work, mate,” Graham told Prank. “Like the Doctor said, we’ve caught up with you eventually.”
“Should I know you people?” Hank asked. “Are your credit discs details available on file?”
“Yeah, don’t think that’s going to work,” the Doctor retorted. “Looking up our credit disc details to try and suck the life force out of us.”
“Guess what, mate?” Graham said. “We ain’t native to Unitopia. We’re just visitors.”
“Passing through as we usually do,” the Doctor added.
“Then I’ll just have to look externally to find your credit disc details…” Prank began.
“That won’t work either,” the Doctor said. “We’re not members of Unitopia or any other Earth colony. In fact, we don’t have any credit disc details of any kind. We’re nobodys. Get it? Non-existent!”
“But that’s ridiculous,” Hank stammered. “And impossible! Everybody has a credit disc! You two must have one!”
“Not us,” Graham said, smiling. “My credit card/debit card details expired long ago. Now that we’re in…” He stopped mid-sentence before turning to the Doctor. “What time are we in, Doc?”
“Thirty-seventh century,” the Doctor helped him.
“Thirty-seventh century, right,” Graham said. “Thanks.”
Prank was still baffled and confused. “I just don’t get it. How were you two able to find me? How did you know I would be in this arena?”
“As they say in all the best pantomimes,” the Doctor said cheerily and then Graham joined in with her, “They’re behind you!”
Prank and his goons turned back to look. There was Ryan and Yaz standing behind them. Both of them waved with cheery smiles.
“Hiya,” greeted Yaz.
“Yo!” Ryan added.
“I…” Prank began, astonished. “Where did you two spring from? We haven’t seen you before!”
“I had them follow your movements, Prank,” the Doctor said. “I sent Ryan and Yaz back in time to keep track of you. Sent them a day or so ago before you made your first attack on Hyperjosque. I’ve got a time machine, you see.”
“We sent the Doctor text messages to let her know what you were doing and where you were going,” said Ryan.
“On silent though,” Yaz said. “Thankfully the Doctor buzzed her sonic screwdriver on our phones to make sure they didn’t make a noise when they usually beep.”
“Time machine; sonic screwdriver; buzzing phones on silent,” Prank said in annoyance and exasperation. “What is this?!”
“I also blocked the TARDIS energy signature to make sure you didn’t keep track of us,” the Doctor added. “That is I blocked Ryan and Yaz’s energy signatures as I’m pretty sure your high-tech gadgetry can pick up high levels of radiation whenever you do one of your criminal jaunts. Time vortex background radiation can be one of them, you see.”
“You woman are a babbler,” Prank told her. “An annoying babbler!”
The Doctor shrugged and said, “Yeah I do tend to do that. Talk a lot. Can’t help being a chatterbox. And don’t ‘woman’ me, mate. For some reason, I don’t like it when people say that to me lately.”
Prank however was confident as he laughed away maniacally.
“So, you four people, whoever you are, have caught me, have you?” he gloated. “Well, it won’t stop me and my lot from achieving our goals. We’ve been stealing people’s life-force as well as the entirety of Unitopia!”
“To have plenty of dosh to spend your life of decadence on another planet somewhere,” the Doctor said. “Yeah, yeah, my friends and I heard about your plans a while back. Even before we came in through the doors.”
“Then you must know that I have a ship waiting to teleport us out,” Prank told her. “So that we can be on our way.”
“Is it really worth it?” the Doctor asked. “Especially on the colony’s 25th anniversary. Where humanity has thrived in coexistence with other species and in outer space? Tell me, Prank. Is it really worth it?”
“Yes,” Prank said confidentially. “It is all worth it. I’ve had enough of being a stickler to rules and regulations within our previous Earth Empire’s colony planet. I’ve had enough and want a life for myself. Not to be among people who say they’re living in peaceful coexistence when in actual fact they’re not.”
“Don’t you feel regret at having stolen people’s lives on this planet, Prank?” the Doctor asked again. “Don’t you feel that you may have inadvertently killed them?”
There was a moment of silence before Prank shrugged and said, “Nope. None whatsoever.” He then took out his remote control and turned to his goons, saying, “Boys! Up you go!”
The ‘boys’ obeyed as Prank pressed a button on the remote control, which now became a communicator as he spoke into it. “Ship! Take my boys up!”
With that, Prank’s goons found themselves caught up in an energy beam and they were teleported out of the council arena.
Once they’d gone, Prank turned to the Doctor and friends, saying, “Goodbye, Doctor whoever you are. And to your friends. My life of luxury awaits on Katana IV. I mustn’t miss out on my life of decadence as you so shrewdly called it.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Graham asked. “Press the button?”
“Yeah,” Ryan joined in. “You really sure? Think about this bro?”
“You can’t think that we’d simply let you and your friends go, can you?” Yaz asked. “Especially now that we’ve caught up with you.”
Hank Prank laughed and said, “I don’t need to think. I know I’ve won. I’m confident and triumphant in this operation of mine. I will leave this planet with all the credits and life-force on me and there’s nothing…”
Just then, Prank’s remote control and communicator bleeped. Prank looked puzzled at the remote control/communicator device in his hand.
“You’d better answer that,” the Doctor advised him. “It might be important.”
Prank ignored the Doctor, as he raised the communicator to his mouth and spoke into it again, “Yes, what is it?”
A buzz of static was made before somebody spoke. “Hank,” shouted one of his goons at the other end. “Hank, listen! Don’t come up here! Don’t come up!”
Hank was baffled. “What do you mean, Jack? What are you talking about? What’s going on?”
“The blues!” said Jack at the other end. “The blues are here! They’ve arrested us! Our operation’s been blown! We can’t…”
The communication channel switched off at Jack’s end. Hank switched off his remote control/communicator before he turned to look at the Doctor again.
“What’s this?” Prank demanded angrily. “What have you people done?”
“The advantage of having a time machine,” the Doctor replied cheekily. “You see, I made sure the police of Hyperjosque were on board your ship to arrest anyone the moment he, she or they came aboard. Your goons are up there now in the custody of Hyperjosque’s security forces!”
“Thanks to us sending text messages to the Doctor,” Yaz said happily.
“We overheard you lot mentioning where your ship is,” said Ryan to Prank, before adding cheekily. “You shouldn’t have revealed the coordinates to your mates whilst other invisible people were in the room.”
Prank became angry at this. “No! No, this cannot be! I can’t have failed! I have won! I’ve worked so hard for this!”
“Not hard enough it seems,” Graham commented.
The Doctor then stepped forward to Prank and said, “Please, Hank Prank. Don’t make this hard for yourself. Give yourself up; give back the lives and credits you stole from all the people in the city of Hyperjosque as well as around the world; and I’ll see to it that you’re treated fairly by the security forces. What’s it going to be?”
There was a moment when Prank actually considered the Doctor’s kind offer. But then he growled and said, “No! I can still make it out of here! I’ll find a way off this planet! I’ll find another ship if I have to! Teleport to a nearby shuttle park!”
Prank was about to use his teleport device, entering some coordinates into it, before Ryan saw what he was doing and ran forward.
“Oh no you don’t!” Ryan shouted.
“Ryan, don’t,” Yaz cried, anxiously.
But Ryan was already onto Prank, stopping him from using the teleport device. Ryan managed to get Prank to drop the teleport device out of his hand, before he stamped on it, smashing it into pieces with his right foot. There was a series of mini-explosions from the teleport device. It startled the Doctor, Graham and Yaz. Ryan was startled too.
Prank looked up angrily at Ryan. “You stupid idiot,” he shouted. “You smashed our means of escape!”
“Yeah,” Ryan said. “That was the point! Now you’ve got no chance of escape! Give it up, mate! Like the Doctor said, do yourself a favour and hand yourself in!”
“Ryan, that was incredibly dangerous,” the Doctor retorted.
“You could’ve got yourself injured, son,” Graham told him.
“Oh and that’s all the thanks I get,” Ryan said bitterly. “Thanks gramps!”
“The Doctor said it was dangerous!” Graham replied. “You should’ve been more careful before you ran in! Especially with your dyspraxia!”
“Yeah but it worked alright, didn’t it?” Ryan asked.
“No!” Prank growled bitterly. “No! You won’t get me! You lot will have to catch me first!”
Yaz was about to go for Prank and use her police officer skills to pin him down. But Prank saw Yaz first and knocked her out of the way before he ran for another door that led out of the building to the rooftop.
The Doctor, Graham and Ryan went over to Yaz to check on her.
“Yaz, are you alright?” the Doctor asked concerned.
“Yes,” Yaz replied. “I’ll be alright!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Don’t fuss.”
“He’s gone outside,” Graham commented. “Through another door to the rooftop.”
“He won’t get far,” Ryan said. “Not without a ship to teleport him out.”
“No,” the Doctor said. “But he could try something. Especially with all the life-force energy’s he acquired.”
“He’s got some of that life-force energy on him then?” Graham asked.
“It’ll be in some container on his person I believe,” the Doctor suggested. “We can’t let him get away with it. Nor can we let him lose it or break it! Come on! Out through the door we go and after him!”
The Doctor made a dash for it as she ran for the door Hank Prank had gone through, taking out her sonic screwdriver and holding it firmly in her hand. Graham, Ryan and Yaz followed the Doctor as they chased after Hank Prank to the rooftop of the building.
At the top of the Unitopia Council Arena building, Hank Prank found himself stuck at the top. He tried to figure out how to get down to the bottom of the building. He thought about jumping down. But he didn’t have a parachute and didn’t want to commit suicide unjustly. Why hadn’t he packed a parachute? He thought about summoning his float to pick him up. But he remembered the young man who knocked him over broke his remote control device and stamped on it. ‘Stupid boy,’ he thought.
Just then, he heard footsteps behind him. Hank Prank turned and saw the Doctor there before him. Her three friends had come up a distance behind her.
“Be careful, Doctor,” Graham called out to her.
“I know what I’m doing, Graham,” she reassured him. “Trust me!”
The Doctor edged closer to Hank Prank who backed away towards the edge of the council arena building’s rooftop.
“Don’t come any closer to me,” Prank warned her. “I’ll jump off. I really will.”
The Doctor shook her head and said, “Na! I don’t think you’d be that stupid!”
“I will jump off,” Prank said. “I’m not joking here!”
“Yeah,” the Doctor retorted. “Forgive me if I don’t believe a man who has the name Prank.”
Prank was stumped for a moment. Then he said, “Please, Doctor whoever you are. I can give you a fair share of the profits. I’ll give you anything you want so long as you let me go.”
“Oh please,” the Doctor rebuked him. “Do you think I would stoop that low? Once the police take you away, I’ll restore the population of Unitopia back to normal before you took their lives away!”
“You can’t do that,” Prank protested. “I’ve worked hard for this to succeed. In any case, you can’t restore the population back to normal. The technology I used to steal all the people’s life-force is back at my head base. It’s all voice-print activated and computer coded. Nothing can bypass it!”
“Except,” the Doctor fished something out of her pocket, “I’ve got my trusty sonic here on me. It can bypass any computer code on any piece of technology it comes into contact with. And the wonders of technology can replicate your voice-print to complete the procedure of restoring people back to normal with your own marvellous technology.”
Prank was really stumped now.
The Doctor edged forward.
“Please Prank,” she begged. “Give yourself up now. You can’t escape this. Let the Hyperjosque security forces take you and we’ll see you get well-treated.”
Prank again was about to consider the Doctor’s kind offer.
But then he said, “No! If I can’t have my life on some other paradise planet, then I can’t have my life at all! I’m going to end it right away!”
And with that, Prank dropped off the edge of the building.
“No!” shouted the Doctor, she put her sonic screwdriver back in her coat pocket and ran over to where Prank had fallen. She looked over the edge of the building. There was no sign of where Prank had fallen. He’d completely vanished.
But then, the Doctor found herself grabbed by the ankle and pulled down from the edge of the building. She cried as she grabbed onto a piece of barred fencing from the rooftop once pulled down. The Doctor looked to see that it was Hank Prank who had grabbed hold of her ankle. He was holding onto a piece of railing on the side of the building after he’d fallen. The Doctor saw he had a malicious grin on his face.
“But if I have to go and end it all,” Prank said, picking up from where he’d left off after he fell, “then at least I’ll be taking you with me!”
The Doctor gasped and held on for dear life to the barred fencing on the rooftop, trying to keep hold and not let Prank have her fall with him. Her grip was starting to loosen. Not even her sonic screwdriver could get her out of this.
But thankfully, the Doctor had three friends to help her out. Graham, Ryan and Yaz saw what had happened before they ran over to help and grab the Doctor to stop her from falling.
“We’ve got you,” Yaz reassured her. “We’ve got you, Doctor!”
Once they’d grabbed hold of the Doctor, they began to pull her up with Prank hanging onto her foot.
“Here we go, Doc,” Graham told her. “Upsidaisy!”
As the Doctor was being pulled up, she looked at Graham and said cheerily, “You see! I knew what I was doing! I had my three friends to help me!”
“We should’ve known you’d get yourself into trouble,” Ryan joked with her.
Once Graham, Ryan and Yaz had pulled up the Doctor back onto the rooftop, they set about pulling Hank Prank too.
But Prank was losing his grip on the Doctor’s heel as he found himself about to fall and plummet down to the bottom from the tall building.
The Doctor noticed this and shouted, “Quick! Somebody grab him! We need him alive!”
“I’m on it!”
Yaz was quick on the mark as she grabbed onto Hank Prank before he fell to the ground. She pulled him back up onto the rooftop. Once Prank was back on his two feet on the rooftop, he attempted to break free and run. Thankfully Yaz’s police officer skills came in handy as she pinned Prank to the ground. Prank cursed and yelled whilst Yaz held him down.
“Oh no you don’t!” Yaz told him. “You’re not getting away so easily this time.”
The Doctor was helped by Graham and Ryan to get back on her feet on the rooftop and she thanked them both.
Graham then asked, “What do we need Prank alive for? You said we could replicate his voice print to bypass the computer technology he had with your sonic screwdriver.”
“Ah,” the Doctor began to admit. “I may have fibbed a bit when I told Mr. Prank that part. I didn’t actually think he would try to jump off the building when he did.”
“So replicating Prank’s voice for the voice print wouldn’t have worked,” stated Ryan.
“Not really,” the Doctor said rather sheepishly. “But I would’ve figured something out. I usually do.”
“Well thank goodness for that,” Graham said shrewdly.
“But hey,” the Doctor perked up. “At least we caught Prank alive and got him for the police. Now we need to restore Unitopia’s population back to normal.” She turned to Ryan and Yaz. “Let’s head for where you two said Prank’s technology would be to do that at his base.”
Ryan and Yaz smiled. They; the Doctor and Graham took Prank with them as they made their way back into the council arena building before heading for Prank’s base of operations to restore the Unitopia population, including the city of Hyperjosque.
About twelve hours later, the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz were continuing to enjoy the celebrations of Unitopia’s 25th anniversary within the city of Hyperjosque. Everybody was back to normal. The time travellers had managed to restore the population of Unitopia using Prank’s technology and Prank was now under guard by Hyperjosque security forces. It took some time with persuading Prank to use his voice print and for the Doctor to use her sonic screwdriver to bypass all the computer codes. But they achieved it in the end and watched the fireworks display.
The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz were now eating Vicnickelly candy floss whilst watching the fireworks go off by the millisecond in Hyperjosque’s city centre. They had blue mouths from eating the stuff of course.
“So Doc,” Graham asked. “Will that Hank Prank geezer be behind bars forever now that we’ve beaten him and brought these people back to normal?”
The Doctor shrugged. “Maybe; maybe not. I don’t know. I didn’t look up Hank Prank’s record in the TARDIS library after we saw the Hyperjosque police lock him up.”
“Well don’t you think you should have?” Yaz asked. “He could break out of jail you know?”
“Could do,” the Doctor shrugged again. “Could not.”
“Aren’t you worried he might break out?” Ryan asked.
“Not really,” the Doctor said. “Not my problem. I’m just a traveller, you see.”
“But if you ever came back to Hyperjosque again and you found out he had broken out of jail, would you stop him?” Graham asked.
The Doctor nodded. “Oh yeah; definitely! We only came here to enjoy the celebrations of Unitopia’s 25th anniversary. And now we can with Vicnickelly candy floss and having blue mouths eating it!”
The Doctor and her friends laughed before seeing another firework go off into the night sky of the colony world. Everyone cheered with awe and wonder as they saw the next firework going off.
“Must be a tough life for you, Doctor,” Yaz commented. “Having to deal with some bad guys and stopping interference in the universe’s timelines by them. And you just came here to have some fun on a colony world and its celebrations.”
“Yeah,” the Doctor replied. “Sometimes life is like that. Things getting in the way. Which really bugs me at times. But sometimes there are rewards after you’ve finished saving the universe. Or just saving a little planet like this one and giving people’s lives back to them after a little naughty man or woman takes them away. That’s why I’m enjoying seeing the fireworks and having my candy floss at the same time. Because I know we did it! We saved the planet!”
The Doctor included her friends in a group hug, wrapping her arms around them. Graham, Ryan and Yaz smiled, joining in the embrace.
“Yeah well, you know us, Doc,” Graham remarked modestly. “We’re always here to back you up wherever we go!”
“Yes,” the Doctor agreed. “And after we’re finished here, we’re off onto the next adventure.”
Ryan became startled. “You never get tired after finishing one adventure before going onto the next one?”
“Nope,” the Doctor said. “My eagerness for fun and adventure is always there.” She had her biggest grin when she said that. But then she became serious and said to her three friends, “But remember, you three. It isn’t always fun like this. For all we know, the next adventure we have could be dangerous. I never know where we’re going to go. And I can’t guarantee I can keep you safe.”
Graham, Ryan and Yaz were silent once the Doctor had said that. They were solemn for a while. But then they perked up eventually.
“Yeah,” Yaz said. “We know that. You told us what the risks were when we asked to come along with you.”
“And we were willing to take them risks,” Ryan added.
“Absolutely,” Graham said. “We wanted to see more of the universe. And here we are. Seeing how humanity’s progressed; enjoying the fireworks display and having Vicky-nelly candy floss…”
“Vicnickelly candy floss, Graham!” the Doctor corrected.
“Yeah,” Graham replied. “And…we’re loving it!”
Ryan rolled his eyes and said, “Now you’re really starting to sound like a McDonald’s ad!”
The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz embraced each other in a group hug, looking up at the sky to see the wonders of the universe before them through the fireworks display in the sky. Everyone in the city of Hyperjosque enjoyed fireworks display.
It was a short while later that nobody noticed the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz were gone. Nobody noticed that the blue box that stood in one of the alleyways…started to dematerialise, whooshing and grinding away. The TARDIS was taking the four time travellers…off to their next adventure. What lies in store for them, neither they nor anyone else knew. And that was what made it so much fun, wasn’t it?
‘Graham O’Brien’, ‘Ryan Sinclair’ and ‘Yasmin Khan’ created by Chris Chibnall
© Tim Bradley, 2019
Bradley's Basement 